Wonder By R. J. Palacio

A teacher’s goal for their students within every lesson is to communicate a lifelong theme that every child will take with them as they go on in life and have challenges they need to overcome. Mrs.Rivel, our ELA teacher for grades six and seven in WDS, communicates themes to us as students, though the literature we read in her class, that I plan to take with me for the rest of my life. Over the course of two years in ELA, I have learned to love who you are, seize the day because you only live once, and finally, that it’s never too late to learn something new.

To begin with, one of the first themes I have taken from ELA class is to love myself. Essentially, the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio, is an ideal example for the theme love who you are,
Firstly, I learned from the poem Cake by Noah Eli Gordon, to savor every moment because you only live once. It teaches me that people go through life wanting more and more, but when they finally get it, it is gone, and they immediately want more. Just like cake itself. You want it, your mouth waters, then you dig in, but then all of a sudden, the cake is gone. Therefore, I learned to savor every moment because you only live once. To appreciate what you have and don’t just let it disappear, because you don’t know if you will ever have the same opportunity again. Additionally, I learned this theme from the poem George Grey, by Edgar Lee Master. The narrator of the poem George Grey cautions the readers to seize the day, because you only live once. The poem begins with the idea that fear has took control over a man’s ability to seize the day. He shut out love, fun, opportunities, all because he was afraid of getting hurt. Once George Grey died, the narrator explains the regret George Grey experienced once his life was over. That he dies with nothing to have lived for. Which brings us back to the theme to seize the day because you only live once. Moreover, the poem A Man Said to the Universe by Stephen Crane, made sure it’s readers will live up to this theme. The poem starts out with a man shouting out to the universe, asking for help. He failed to seize the day, to learn from others, and then later on in his life realized that he was in trouble. After the man asks for help, you get the message that the universe replies by saying so what? From this, you get the message to learn to do new things while you can, because there will be a time where there will be nobody to do it for you, so you must seize the day because you only live once. From these poems, I learned to seize the day, because you only live